Displaying items by tag: Price
Nepal: Cement producers have suggested that consumers wait for cement prices to fall before they build new homes. Bishnu Prasd Neupane, managing director of Jagadamba Cement, made the comment at a forum organised and reported upon by Nepal Republic Media. He said that end users could benefit from the fall in the international price of crude oil. A drop in fuel prices is expected to cut transport and production costs. Overall, the price of construction materials could drop by 20%.
Tara Prasad Pokharel, general secretary of Cement Manufacturer's Association Nepal (CMAN), asked customers not to pay more than a transportation cost of more than US$1.4/bag or more than 20% dealer costs on top of factory prices. The retail price of cement has increased by more than 50% due to high transportation costs caused by fuels shortages.
"The price of diesel is expected to come down to US$0.55/litre from US$0.69/litre. It will obviously lower our cost of production," said Pashupati Murarka, promoter of Arghakhanchi Cement and also the president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI). Use of diesel-run generators increases the price of cement by around US$0.74/bag at current oil prices. Use of the country's national grid increases is also expected to cut the cost of production significantly.
Probe into Loma Negra and Holcim in Argentina requested
24 August 2015Argentina: Mateo Aleman, the head of the Chaco Construction Company Centre (CEC) has requested that Argentina's national government review the conduct of cement firms Loma Negra and Holcim. He claims that they have been cutting back on cement supplies for several months, in breach of Argentina's Supply Law. According to Aleman, a lack of supply has created a huge price distortions in the market where speculators have been known to double prices, as in the case in the interior of Chaco province.
Cement producers in South Korea face cartel probe
24 July 2015South Korea: The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has continued its investigation into whether cement producers colluded to raise cement prices. The antitrust watchdog conducted an on-site probe into cement producers including Tongyang Cement & Energy and Hanil Cement in mid July according to industry sources cited by the Maeil Business Newspaper and the FTC. If a fine is levied a legal battle may follow regarding whether the Sampyo consortium, chosen as the preferred bidder to acquire Tongyang Cement & Energy, should pay the fine imposed by the FTC on Tongyang.
Upon the request from the ready-mixed concrete industry, the regulator started an investigation into alleged price-fixing in the South Korean cement industry in April 2013, but it has yet to reach a conclusion. The latest site visit is believed to have been organised to obtain further evidence on suspicions of price-fixing.
The combined sales of the seven cement makers that account for about 88% of South Korea's cement market are estimated at be up to US$855m/yr. Suspicions of cartel-like activity date back to 2011 and this may be reflected in potential fines if any price-fixing is proved.
Indonesia: According to the Jakarta Post, Semen Indonesia has lowered its prices by around 10% so far in 2015 to compete with rivals amid an economic slowdown that has seen a decline in the construction sector. With an increase in competition in the local market, Semen Indonesia had hoped that its exports would boost its revenues, according to company marketing director Amat Pria Darma.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo instructed state-owned cement producers to lower their prices in January 2015 to support the government's massive infrastructure projects. However, Darma added that state-run cement producers had to lower their prices further later in 2015 to cope with tighter competition and lacklustre demand. "A number of new plants have started operating and new supplies are coming in. We have to lower our prices to keep up with the market with overall plunging domestic demand," said Darma.
Semen Indonesia saw its domestic sales volumes fall by 5.3% in January – May 2015 to 9.91Mt, even steeper than the national decline in cement demand of around 3.8%. In May 2015 alone, the company's domestic sales fell by around 14%.
While cement demand has contracted since the start of 2015 on the back of the slowing economy, several cement producers have seen additional production from newly operating plants. New players have also entered the market, such as Semen Merah Putih. Semen Indonesia saw its market share in the country slip from 44% in 2015 to 43% in 2015. Darma said that he was pessimistic that Semen Indonesia could achieve its target of seeing sales volume up by around 6% in 2015, or even maintain it at the same position as 2014. The company will instead look to export markets as a strategy to cope with the domestic slowdown.
Semen Indonesia's exports rose by more than eight times from 22,155t in the first five months of 2014, to 184,181t in the same period of 2015. According to Agung Wiharto, the surges were not particularly good news as with high transportation costs, cement makers only exported their production when domestic sales were down and the contribution from exports was not significant. Exports, he said, were made to better ensure that its products were absorbed to maintain utilisation and efficiency. Wiharto said that Semen Indonesia was looking to initiate contract-based exports, in comparison to its current spot sales, in the near future if the economy does not show any signs of improvement. By relying on a six-month to one-year contract, the company could ship more cement, ensuring a more certain market.
"We hope to see our exports hit 1Mt in 2015. The prospect is good, given that some of our traditional markets have no cement producers," said Wiharto. Among Semen Indonesia's major export customers are Timor-Leste, Bangladesh and the Maldives.
Surplus cement supply stabilises prices in Egypt
27 April 2015Egypt: Cement producers have decided to keep the prices of cement 'stable' for the fifth consecutive month, Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy has announced. Medhat Stephanos, head of cement companies at the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FDI), said the supply surplus is behind the price stability, according to local media.
Hanafy stated that 854,000t had been produced for the current month and that the total amount of supplied cement was 1.86Mt. Around 818,000t of cement were distributed in the local market and around 500,000t were exported between 9 and 15 April. Staphanos added to Daily News Egypt that the country's cement production capacity has increased following the introduction of coal as a source of energy, which reduced the energy problem that faced producers.
"We expected more activity in the processes of construction but those expectations were not met," said Stephanos. "Some projects were expected to start but have not started yet."
Iran: Iranian cement producers owe €600m to the country's National Development Fund, according to Abdolreza Sheikhan, the secretary of the Union of Iranian Cement Industry Employers. Sheikhan also cited studies supporting that the price of cement should be increased by 17%, due to transportation and production costs, in order to present cement plants being closed.
"Presently, Iran with an output capacity of 70 million tons of cement a year is the world's fourth largest producer of cement after China, India and the United States," said Sheikhan. Iran could become the world's third largest cement producer if its 75Mt/yr nominal production capacity becomes its actual capacity, he noted. In May 2014, Sheikhan said that cement prices might be increased by 22%.
Cement manufacturing cost to increase by US$0.11 – 0.16/bag
27 February 2015India: The manufacturing cost for cement is likely to go up by US$0.11 – 0.16/bag due to the proposed freight hike on various inputs and the cement itself. "The cost of production will go up in the range between US$0.11 – 0.16/bag," said a cement company spokesperson. He added that cement producers would most likely pass on the costs to their customers.
The Railway Budget proposals plan to increase freight rates of coal and slag, used in the manufacturing of cement, by US$0.74/t and by US$0.34/t respectively. A hike in cement freight rates of US$0.34/t has also been proposed, however, a reduced freight on limestone, by US$0.04/t, is also in the proposal.
"The freight rate hike is likely to increase our cost of production in the range between US$0.03 – 0.06/t. However, price is determined by demand and supply," said Mahendra Singhi, whole-time director of Dalmia Bharat Cement. Jaypee Cement's whole-time director Shiva Dixit said that although the freight rate hike would have an impact on input prices, they would wait for the main Budget to see the cost implication.
Cement producer in Crimea unreasonably increases prices
28 January 2015Russia: The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has found that the 'Stroiindoustria' Bakhchisaray cement plant in the Crimea violated antimonopoly law by 'unreasonably' raising prices of cement. In April – May 2014 Bakhchisaray increased prices for its different product brands by an average of 45%. FAS established that the company had the dominant position on the cement market in the Crimea Federal District.
Completing the investigation, the antimonopoly body did not reveal any economic, technological or other justifications for the increased prices of the company products. The case against Bakhchisaray was initiated following an inspection of the largest producers of construction materials in the Crimea Federal District to verify whether prices complied with the antimonopoly law.
Cement prices to rise in Iran
18 June 2014Iran: The Iranian government has given permission to cement producers to increase their prices. The new prices will become effective on 21 June 2014, according to the Mehr News Agency. Previously it was reported that Iran's Cement Producers Association planned to increase cement prices by 14 – 21% in the current Iranian calendar year (which started on 21 March 2014). The Cement Producers Association and the Industry, Mine, and Trade ministry signed an agreement in the 2013 – 2014 Iranian year, establishing the trade association as the driver of cement prices.
Construction activity slows in Uganda in third quarter of 2013
27 November 2013Uganda: A slowdown in the construction sector and increased competition from imports has seen the price of cement fall by 13% in the third quarter of 2013 in Uganda, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) Construction Sector Indices report.
Cement production in the country has increased following the entry of new producers including Moroto Cement, whose production capacity is estimated at 3000t/day. Hima and Tororo Cement factories have also increased cement production capacities. Cement supply in the country is currently estimated at 137,000t, up from 115,000t in 2012. As cement production increases prices are also expected to continue trending downwards.